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Kaz and Kyle have to go Williamless this week, but they manage to push through their emotional pain to talk about Stardew Valley, WoW, Smash tournaments, Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland, and more. We also kick up a little pre-E3 hype by reviewing the conference schedule, talk even more about loot box legislation, get excited for Final Fantasy VII Remake, and are thoroughly whelmed by Medievil. Finally, we talk China’s rising status in the gaming world and the perils of animating Mortal Kombat. Come pause with us!

The crew start by talking about the game’s they’ve been playing. Kaz had a major win in wow by getting over 13 new mounts. Kyle finally beat Spyro reignited and surprisingly enjoyed himself in Sonic Forces. William continues his journey through Fate Grand Order (is anyone surprised?) on the not-so-hype train we talk about the awful new Sonic movie trailer, and how even the directors vow to change the design won’t happen. Persona 5 S is for Scramble and not switch, and Rocket league has been bought by Epic. But we are hyped about Bloodstained, Blizzcon, Planet Zoo and Cuphead on switch. In the discussions we dive deep into Nether Tealm, epic and Riot and the Crunchtime Culture in the video game industry. Come Pause with us!

There’s been a whole lot more discussion on crunch time and labor practices in the industry, this time brought to you by NetherRealm, Epic, and Riot. I don’t know what to say about it apart from what’s already been said, though.

This week on Pause Screen the crew update us on what they’ve been playing. Kyle complete Sekiro and gives his review of the Fairune Collection, Kaz is creating soap opera levels of mischief in Stardew valley while keeping up on her WoW chores, and William did play some Fate: Grand Order but has internet connection issues all episode long! On the hype train we talk about Sekiro’s Sales numbers, the Smash Ulitmate stage builder leak, Spyro Reignited patch (Kyle can finally finish!) and Nintendo Direct rumors. After a tangent on complaining about YouTube and Youtuber Culture, We get into our discussion about Nintendo being Ranked the 9th most reputable company in the US. What has nintendo done to earn the good will of it’s fans? What are other video game companies missing? and how easy it is for a company to loose the grace of it’s fans. Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN *toot toot*

Sekiro sold 2 million copies in its first 10 days

Rumor mill says that Watch Dogs 3 is going to be set in London. Sounds interesting

Stage Builder got leaked for Smash Ultimate

Spyro Reignited Trilogy finally got a patch so I can finish it

Rumor said there was going to be a nintendo direct today, everyone was talking about it. And nope, didn’t happen

Discussion:

Nintendo was ranked the 9th most reputable company in the US, the only gaming company to make the top 10.

Given the close relationship between gaming companies and customers, why don’t we see more of that? Related, the Elder Scrolls: Blades beta came out on phones, and people hate the monetization. Between Stadia and F2P stuff, is Nintendo really a weird standout, or will other companies try the more consumer-friendly approach?

This week on Pause Screen Kaz updates us on things Warcraft, Kyle talks about Sekiro and the Fairune Collection, and William wallows in Fate/Grand Order. In our Hype Train we talk the Genesis Mini, Bethesda’s future games, Best Buy leaks, and more! We also discuss Bioware’s management issues and Gamestop sinking further into their financial hole. Finishing up we briefly express our feelings about difficult/exclusionary gameplay in games. Come pause with us!

Jason Schreier at Kotaku has a really great writeup on why Anthem (and to a lesser extent, Mass Effect Andromeda) ended up the way they did.

TLDR: management is bad. Apparently Bioware’s management has been sending emails about it and plans to address things in an all hands next week. It’s a great read, gives some interesting insight into how a studio is subject to its leadership. https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964

Gamestop lost $673 million in the past year. It’s sad to watch them slowly (or more recently, quickly) die.

Dead Cells and Enter the Gungeon are both getting big, new, free updates

Persona 5: The Royal got announced, has a lady in it. Probably an alternate main character, but it isn’t confirmed. They said they’d tell us more in April, which makes this the third sort-of announcement this game has had.

Pause Screen is here! This time Kyle tells us about Ys VII, Castlevania 4, and his collecting addiction while William talks about Tales of Vesperia, Touhou 6, and Fate/Grand Order. For the Hype Train, we get hype about Sekiro coming out, Cuphead on Switch, and more! For discussion topics, we tackle Microsoft extending Xbox Live to iOS and Android (plus the Switch), Google’s Stadia, and the Badland Games/Publishing mess with Axiom Verge. To finish up, Kyle tells us about one more game he’s played: the weird postmodern Travis Strikes Again. Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN *toot toot*

SEKIROOOOOO

Octopath Traveler mobile prequel (sad train)

Cuphead on Switch

Cadence of Hyrule

Katana Zero looks nice too

The Happy Hob just beat all 5 soulsborne games in a row without taking a hit (apart from a required one in Dark Souls 1)

This week on Pause Screen Kyle talks more Smash, Tetris 99, and Fire Emblem Echoes, while William has been too sick to play anything except some Daemon X Machina. For this week’s Hype Train we talk about the EVO lineup, Pokemon Sword and Shield, Detective Pikachu, Anthem, Darksiders 3, some journalism, and an unusual game title. We also discuss Reggie’s upcoming retirement, potential relationships between Microsoft and Nintendo, and GOG’s recent layoffs. Come pause with us!

We have returned! Pause Screen is back with some audio only episodes! Kaz is sick for now, but Kyle is here to catch us up with Kingdom Hearts 3, Tetris 99, Smash, and a few other games. Meanwhile William has only been playing Tales of Vesperia and the Bleach gacha game. In the Hype Train we mention Piranha Plant joining Smash Ultimate, Hollow Knight: Silksong, along with a couple other topics, and a bunch of stuff from the Nintendo Direct including Fire Emblem, Bloodstained, Astral Chain, and Link’s Awakening. In our Discussions, we mention Blizzard’s recent firing spree, Apex Legends, and hitting the reset button on Metroid Prime 4. Come pause with us!

HYPE TRAIN *toot toot*

Piranha Plant dropped on Tuesday with the release of Smash 2.0.0. Plus, they gave us patch notes! Incineroar buffs for days. Also, don’t use PP in All Star or Classic if you like your save data.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is going to be a full sequel starring Hornet. Looks good.

Wargroove released and is getting good reviews. Check it out if you’re into Advance Wars.

Jump Force and Crackdown 3 certainly exist

Goodbye, Wii Shop Channel

Nintendo Direct

Mario Maker 2 (June)

Marvel

Bloodstained (Summer)

Fire Emblem: Three Houses (July 26)

Hellblade (Spring)

Deltarune (Feb 28)

Yoshi (March)

FF IX (Yesterday) FFVII (March 26)

Starlink updates

Oninaki (summer)

Daemon X Machina (Summer)

Astral Chain (August 30)

Link’s Awakening (2019)

Discussion:

Blizzard fired some people. Plus, they don’t have any major games planned for 2019.

Apex Legends

Nintendo announced that it’s restarting development on Metroid Prime 4.

They have Retro taking the lead on the project now, so we’ll probably have to wait 3-4 more years. But maybe this means we’ll have a different Retro project on our hands soon? Plus, it’s refreshing to have this kind of honest communication about an anticipated game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLIv_UXI_So

With sickness spreading through the Pausescreen crew, William unfortunately couldn’t join us this week. Kaz spent a bunch of time playing Stardew Valley, and Kyle stayed up way too late playing KH3. He also played and brought up the charming Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, an interesting VR game. On the Hype Train we talk about the Wii Shop channel closing forever, RE2 remake, Erik Wolpaw’s return to Valve, Farming simulator’s new esport and more. In the news we try to figure out what is going on at Gearbox as lawsuits and serious criminal accusations fly back and forth, We celebrate with Bungie on their split with Activision and speculate what the future will hold. We discuss the loss of some gaming history with Machinima’s dirty move on their Youtube channel, And we talk about how much american’s spent on Video games in 2018. Come Pause with us!

Nintendo is suing Soulja Boy. Surprise! And so is Epic and everyone else as he keeps announcing new consoles “with Fortnite.”

Discussion:

So, Gearbox.

Its former general counsel (Wade Callendar) is suing them for Randy Pitchford supposedly having child porn. The company explained it away as being ‘barely legal’ porn, and that it was discovered (along with secret company docs) when he left a USB drive with it at a Medieval Times. He had the videos on there because he was impressed by the ‘magic’ of it, and he’s an amateur magician. Also, Gearbox is suing Callendar for improper use of funds and failing to reimburse, on things such as tuition, parties, and ‘getting six pack abs’. Yep.

They now own the Destiny IP and are independent once again. It’ll be interesting to see if they can save it, and it’s real interesting that Activision let it go after their 10 year contract and all the marketing money they dumped into that thing. Hopefully they can Make Destiny Great Again.

Machinima’s Youtube channel was wiped this past week.

It’s a big milestone, since they were key in bringing the streamer/videos of video games culture of today to fruition. Apparently the new owner is pulling things down to put on a streaming service somewhere. Any fond memories?

Americans spent $43b on video games this past year – a new high by a long shot.

We keep saying gaming is only getting bigger, but it’s crazy how bit it’s actually getting. Where do we go from here? How will new consoles make the transition? Will VR catch on, or will it take 20 more years like normal games did? Side note: Fortnite was $2.4 billion of that. That’s $6.6 million per day. Geez.

Welcome to a new year with Pause Screen! This week, Kaz talks Yoku’s Island Express, finally saving Jaina in WoW, and playing some Smash Ultimate. Kyle’s also been Smashing, as well as playing some PSVR, Salt and Sanctuary, and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. William has done a quick playthrough of Undertale, and bought himself the old Xenosaga trilogy. For the Hype Train, we discuss the multitude of potential (but unannounced) games from From Software, the Megaman 11 team, Square’s Business Division 11, and whatever Persona 5 R is. We also touch on the sudden firing of Blizzard’s CFO, and start discussions about Artifacts poor performance and licencing issues surrounding tattoos in games. Come pause with us!